DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Competition now accepting entries

Organized by Directories Philippines Corporation (DPC) and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), the competition invites student artists, aged 18 to 24, who are currently enrolled in accredited Philippine tertiary schools with a fine arts program, to join the competition.

Now on its 31st edition, fine arts students are challenged to interpret the theme “Habang May Buhay, May Pag-asa” in oil or acrylic. The students’ task is to create paintings that depict how Filipinos value life and how Pinoys remain cheerful and hopeful despite the adversities they face everyday.

Participating schools or departments must select a maximum of five official entries for the competition and entries must be delivered to the DPC Main Office, 2322 Don Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City between February 20 and March 3, 2017 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Direct student entries will not be accepted.

The top three winners of the contest will have their works featured on the covers of 2017 to 2018 telephone directories of DPC (Yellow Pages) and PLDT (White Pages) in key cities in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

VAC 1989 winning piece by Niel Manalo

The first place winner will receive P100,000 in cash and the VAC 31 grand prize trophy, aside from securing a P40,000 donation to his/her school’s fine arts program. Cash prizes of P75,000 and P60,000, plus trophies, await the second and third placers, with corresponding donations to their respective schools. In addition, each of the top 30 finalists will receive P10,000.

Entries will be judged on the basis of visual composition (25 percent), originality (25 percent), adherence to the theme (25 percent), overall impact (15 percent), and suitability as cover (10 percent). The finalist that garners the most points, based on the judges’ score sheets and the online votes, will be declared the VAC 31 grand prize winner. The entry with the most number of online votes cast on www.visualarts.ph will be declared winner of the People’s Choice Award,which carries a cash prize of P15,000.

Previous editions of the painting competition have been dominated by the Far Eastern University’s Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts with nine grand prize winners and the University of the East College of Fine Arts with three. Alongside PUP with two grand prize trophies so far are: Philippine Women’s University, Technological University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and University of the Philippines – Diliman. AUP, Bulacan State University, St. Scholastica’s College, and University of Northern Philippines have each won the grand prize once so far.